Kiln Workers released in Haryana after Struggle led by AICCTU

THE Haryana State Lal Jhanda Bhatta Mazdoor Union State Committee (AICCTU) led the efforts which led to the release on 27 June 2019 of workers who were being made to work as bonded labor for the last 10 days at the Om Shanti Brick Kiln Company at Sandal Road in Kithana, Haryana.

CPI(ML) Haryana State in-charge Prem Singh Gehlawat said that the condition of kiln workers in Haryana is getting worse by the day. The kiln owners issue threats every day to the workers and drive them out of the kiln without settling accounts for the work they have put in. The goondaism of the kiln owners is evident from the incidents at Hansi (January), Rohtak (May), Kurukshetra (June), and now the incidents at Kithan (Kaithal District) and Chhatar village (Jind). The Haryana Pradesh Lal Jhanda Bhatta Mazdoor Union had earlier this year fought and released many kiln workers from bonded labor in Hansi District (along with 4 tractors) and Rohtak District. On 27 June AICCTU’s efforts paid off and several migrant dalit workers at Sandil Road in Kaithana District were released from bonded labour conditions with the help of the administration and given their due wages. Rs 3, 16,000 in arrears were paid by both these kiln companies in the presence of Tahsildar Subhash Chand, ALC Vishwapreet Hudda, SHO Kithana. Comrades Vinod Dhadauli, Om Prakash Arya and Sukhvinder Singh represented the CPI(ML) and witnessed the wage payment.

A recent instance is of the Parmal Kiln Company (Bastali Tahsil Nising Thana, Karnal District) where the owners and management held dalit migrant workers in bondage. The workers, who had worked for the company from 30 November 2018 to 26 June 2019, complained to the Haryana Pradesh Lal Jhanda Bhatta Mazdoor Union affiliated to AICCTU. AICCTU’s intervention got the workers, along with their four tractors, released from bondage.